The Journal News of suburban Westchester, New York caused outrage by publishing an interactive map showing the names and addresses of New York’s legal firearm owners. In a sort of two-can-play-that-game reaction, a New York blog decided to create a map showing the names and addresses of employees of the newspaper.

The blog “Talk of the Sound” a New Rochelle, New York-centric website, decided that turnabout was fairplay by posting its headlined, “Map: Where are the Journal News employees in your neighborhood?.” The map replicates the idea of the gun owners map published by the Journal News replacing gun owners with newspaper employees.

When the Journal Newspublished the names and addresses of New York’s legal gun owners the paper claimed that they were breaking no law as the information they published was all public record. The paper said it was just too bad if the gun owners felt their privacy was violated.

This is, of course, quite true. But the interactive map of the newspaper employees is justifiable using the exact same logic. All the names of the employees are public knowledge and all one needs is a name to find an address, which is generally also in public records that anyone can find.

Newspaper employees may be outraged that their privacy was violated, of course, but they didn’t seem to care much about privacy when they publicized the names and addresses of New York’s gun owners. Naturally, their own argument must be turned right back upon them and that is what “Talk of the Sound” did.

Indeed, the employees are outraged and some are starting to erase their Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin accounts in response. Of course, none of this would have happened if the paper hadn’t decided to act in a political manner in the first place.

After all, there is no news in the names and addresses of legal gun owners. These people aren’t criminals and these individuals have no bearing on the issue.

There was one reason and one reason only for the newspaper to publish the names and addresses of New York’s gun owners. Intimidation. The paper meant to scare these law abiding citizens. It was nothing but a bullying tactic.

Worse, by taking this action, the Journal News intended to put New York’s law abiding firearm owners on the same level as the murderer at Sandy Hook Elementary.

Still, turn about really is fairplay. If The Journal can claim a right to publish “public records” then so can bloggers.

Warner Todd Huston

Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago-based freelance writer, has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and is featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart's BigGovernment.com, BigJournalsim.com and all Breitbart News' other sites, RightWingNews.com, CanadaFreePress.com, and many, many others. Additionally, he has been a frequent guest on talk-radio programs across the country to discuss his opinion editorials and current events as well as appearing on TV networks such as CNN, Fox News, Fox Business Network, and various Chicago-based news programs.
He has also written for several history magazines and appears in the book "Americans on Politics, Policy and Pop Culture" which can be purchased on amazon.com. He is also the owner and operator of PubliusForum.com.
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